Underneath all the clutter, there’s many health hazards that you need to be aware of. Some of them are there all the time but don’t really cause much harm until you start moving things around.
Once you start moving things around, they become airborne and then boom, you’re sick.
Ok, not necessarily. Sometimes you just have mild congestion all the time. It becomes normal for you and you don’t even think about it anymore. You just live on allergy meds.
Maybe you’ll have asthma attacks once in awhile and not even connect it to the cleaning you did over the weekend.
You just accept this all as “normal”.
The things that can cause all that trouble include things like dust, dust mites, pet dander, bacteria, mold spores, and particulate matter.
What is particulate matter by the way?
According to the EPA, particulate matter is a complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets. It’s pollution and it can cause serious heart and lung problems.
The other big threat is mold. It becomes a problem because when you have too much clutter, you can’t always see when there’s water leaking in your house. Make sure that you can check your entire basement every so often. If you store plastic tubs down there, be sure to look underneath them. Sometimes the water puddles under them and doesn’t dry for a long time.
More health hazards include falls and things falling on top of you, or around you.
I was helping a hoarder with her house this summer. She has books piled up against both sides of her hallway. A few years ago, there was a collapse as she tried to navigate her way through and she was trapped. She laid there for almost 3 days before someone finally called the police to check on her.
Even after spending a few days in the hospital, she still has books piled up in the hallway. The rest of the hallway isn’t quite as neatly stacked as this part and I was worried about getting trapped myself the last time I was there.
The point is that hallways and stairs need to be free of clutter.
If you commonly place items on stairs because they need to go upstairs or down to the basement, you could be setting yourself up for a serious accident. Take things up or down right away.
Please be safe and work on decluttering as often as possible if your house is becoming a health hazard!
Wow, I’d be scared of those stacked books too! Once on Hoarders, I saw a petrified copperhead, in the ladies’ bedroom! That petrified me!!
Wow!! That’s freaky!!!